Some saw this realm, the Central Jurisdiction, as an opportunity for blacks to exercise exclusive control over their affairs--elect black bishops, ordain black pastors, edit black papers.
Others, led by Ernest Fremont Tittle, a white pastor from Illinois, objected to the plan, saying, "To be sure, by segregating Negroes in a Negro Conference we give them political opportunities which they would not possess within our white conferences; but we take away from them the experience of Christian Brotherhood which is far more important than is political opportunity." A white layman from Louisiana, H. H. White, replied, "The color line must be drawn firmly and unflinchingly, in State, Church, and society, without any deviation whatever." How blacks responded to such line-drawing is indicated in a story told by Robert E. Jones, one of the first black bishops of northern Methodism: "An old negro woman went to an agent of one of the railroad companies and laid down $25 and said, 'I want a ticket.' 'Where to?' asked the ticket agent. She said, 'That is none of your white folks' business. Give me a ticket; I want to go.'" Blacks, however, were not allowed to pick their own destination in The Methodist Church. They were issued tickets for the Central Jurisdiction, the price of Methodist unity in 1939.